What Every Educator Should Live By

Dear Teacher,

I am the survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness:gas chambers built by learned engineers, children poisoned by educated physicians, infants killed by trained nurses, women and children shot and burned by high school and college graduates. So I am skeptical about education. My request is help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns. Reading, writing, arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more human.
(anon.)

When in education do we stop to see if our children are learning empathy, kindness, and humanity? Every day as teachers we are commanded to raise test scores. When did education become less about our students and more about a number? As a teacher, I could care less if my students reach an often unattainable bar, but I do care that my students reach their potential as a learner and as a human!